


Thick-Headed Idiots (and what it's like to be one)

by clouds1132



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: 1d, Best Friends, Boyfriends, Childhood Friends, Denial of Feelings, Feelings, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Happy Ending, Humor, M/M, No Smut, OT5 Friendship (One Direction), One Direction One Shot, One Shot, Soulmates, Swearing, larry - Freeform, larry stylinson - Freeform, one direction - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:48:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26228185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clouds1132/pseuds/clouds1132
Summary: “He said it himself, he doesn’t want to make a move on me because I’m his best mate… just his best mate and nothing more!” Louis argued fiercely.Niall sighed and gripped his hair in vexation. “Are you fucking blind, mate?! He doesn’t want to make a move on you ‘cause he doesn’t think you like him back and he doesn’t want to ruin your friendship!”Louis frowned for a second before Niall’s words registered in his brain and his eyes widened. His mouth dropped open in shock as realisation flooded throughout his body. What?!“Oh… oh,” he said, his brain going into overload. “Why didn’t I think of that before?”
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik/Liam Payne
Comments: 7
Kudos: 117





	Thick-Headed Idiots (and what it's like to be one)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, this is my first Larry fanfic and fanfic on archive overall, so I hope you like it! Warning that my life is completely void of relationships and love so this may or may not be an inaccurate representation of having a crush, etc. I've literally never been kissed before so I'm just writing off what I've read/seen before. Isn't it crazy that I started listening to One Direction and then ended up dedicating my life to them? Anyway, please let me know your thoughts on this story in the comments and leave kudos if you liked it. Thanks!
> 
> Trigger warnings: boyxboy, swearing

“Stop, Harry! You can’t let it see you move!” Louis chided, his voice low as he cowered behind his best mate.

With his back safely pressed against the wall, Louis shrunk further and further away from his nightmare, refusing to make eye contact with the disgustingly beastly creature. He whimpered as it slithered along the wall, it’s black, beady eyes bearing into Louis’ as if preparing to suck his poor soul out of his contorted body. Louis was in no way capable or ready to take on the antagonising, brutal battle to defeat this wicked, ill-intended monster. Whoever decided that this little savage, that swarmed the minds of innocent people up to hundreds of times its size, had an acceptable place on earth… well, they must’ve been pretty damn deranged.

But that’s why Louis had Harry - his cuddly best mate who could shapeshift from a human fluff ball into an indomitable bodyguard within milliseconds. Even though the room was dark, with the dull shine of the moon through the small window as the only source of lighting, Louis could sense the determined frown that had formed on Harry’s face. It was a best mate’s thing, seeing as Louis was still situated behind Harry’s head of curls.

“Shut up,” Harry hissed back. “It’ll hear us if we talk.”

By now, adrenaline was pumping through Louis’ veins as he rolled back and forth on the balls of his heels, his heart pumping faster and faster by the second. He could feel his head growing hot and humid as it became sweatier with his nerves. Hopefully, his shiny forehead wouldn’t give away their presence to the evil beast.

Suddenly, the door burst open and both boys jumped nearly ten feet in the air. Louis, gripped Harry’s shoulders, feeling like he was about to pass out from a heart attack. He peered over beside Harry’s head to see a rather confused looking Zayn.

“What the hell is taking you two so long?” Zayn questioned, a bewildered frown etched into his expression.

Shuddering, Louis lifted his hand off of Harry’s shoulder and shakily pointed towards the little black dot of a demon on the opposite wall. In the midst of the silence, while Zayn turned his attention to follow Louis’ finger, Louis’ ears clearly caught Harry’s erratic breathing. His own breathing was even more turbulent.

Zayn rolled his eyes when he saw the thing that had scarred both Harry and Louis.

“It’s a fucking spider, you wusses.”

And like it was just second nature to him, Zayn swiped a tissue from its box, wrapped it around the spider and took it out of the room. Louis let out a sigh of relief as the spider disappeared from sight and laid his head on Harry’s shoulder.

“Phew! That was a close one!” he exclaimed, his heart slowing in his chest.

“We could’ve died…” Harry sniffled, turning around to hug Louis’ head to his chest. “Thank God for Zayn, our hero!”

Louis’ ears perked up at the sound of the toilet flushing and steady footsteps coming back to the bedroom.

“You guys act like you’re in a horror movie. Sooo dramatic,” Zayn rolled his eyes as he leant against the doorframe. “Now quit being coupley and come back to the living room.”

With that, the dark-haired boy departed from the room and Louis reluctantly removed himself from Harry’s embrace. He looked up into Harry’s glistening green eyes with a sheepish grin on his face. 

“Did we just act like the smallest spider was the three-headed dog from Harry Potter?” Harry questioned, his eyes reflecting faux misery and remorse.

“Yes. Yes, we did,” Louis sighed, his hands reaching up to grip his hair. He tilted his head back and looked up at the ceiling. “Woe to us for being such pathetic cowards!”

“I’m so disappointed in us,” Harry whispered, hanging his head in desolation before looking back up at Louis with a new twinkle of mischief in his eyes. “Let’s go back now; don’t want to keep the others waiting too long.”

Louis grinned and held out his arm. “After you.”

Louis followed Harry back into the living room where Niall, Liam and Zayn were sprawled across the couch, not even bothering to keep up with whatever movie was playing on the TV. Zayn was cuddled up to Liam’s side as Liam kept Niall entertained by throwing popcorn into his mouth… or whatever other random food was laying around. Harry resumed his place on the right side of the couch, next to Zayn, while Louis sat next to him, propping his legs up on Harry’s lap.

Zayn turned to his right and caught Harry’s eyes in a staring contest, which lasted for a while before Zayn spoke.

“What? So I don’t get a thank you for saving both your asses from that demonic creature?” Zayn raised an eyebrow with an offended look on his face. When Harry didn’t reply, he continued, “Oh, come on… at least a ‘thank you, Zaynie, for being our trusty knight in shining armour’. No? Fine, then. Have it your way, you ungrateful little shits.” 

“If anything, you gave us heart attacks when you slammed the door open,” Harry mumbled. “So my feelings to you are neither grateful nor ungrateful.”

“Sorry, Zaynie poo. I completely agree with Harry here,” Louis nodded, smirking at Zayn.

Zayn rolled his eyes for the third time. “As I said, ungrateful little shits.”

All the boys’ attention was diverted to the blond one as he face-planted on the floor with a thud, his arms waving above his head.

“I won!” Niall cheered, his voice muffled in the rug.

He rolled over on his back and sat up, looking back at the boys with a large grin on his face.

“10 in a row!” he explained happily. “I’m smashing it!”

“Yeah, and you’re also smashed, so we’re going to stop now,” Liam commented, bending down to pick Niall up by his arms and placing him back on the couch.

Niall pouted. “Awh, but I was doing so well!”

Louis laughed lightly at how cute Niall was, even though he was borderline drunk… Louis didn’t even know how Niall was drunk since popcorn doesn’t even have alcohol in it.

“Yep, well, you shouldn’t have bought the ones that are infused with tequila,” Liam said.

Oh, that’s why.

“Harry, come ‘ere so I can braid your hair,” Niall suddenly ordered, stretching his hands out in Harry’s direction. Yep, he was drunk.

Louis snorted as Harry begrudgingly stood up and dragged himself over to where Niall was sitting, plopping down on the ground in front of him. Niall grabbed a fistful of Harry’s sleek strands in his hand.

“Harry, I don’t wanna tell you that I dunno how to braid hair ‘cause otherwise you’re gonna be scared that I’m gonna knot your hair,” Niall began, pausing for a breath. “So that’s why I’m not gonna tell you that I dunno how to braid hair ‘cause I don’t want you to be scared that I’m gonna knot your hair.”

Louis looked at Harry as Harry caught his eye with a pained expression, while Niall twisted his hair into god knows what. Louis facepalmed and the other two laughed.

“Harry, you should keep it in so you can show it off at school tomorrow,” Zayn suggested slyly as he leant his head on Liam’s shoulder.

Louis thought that was disgustingly domestic.

“Yeah, nah. No thanks,” Harry replied shortly, wincing as Niall pulled his hair. Louis was convinced that Harry was going to end up bald by the end of the night. “Ow, ow!”

“No pain, no gain,” Niall slurred as he yanked Harry’s head yet again.

“Niall, that doesn’t even make sense,” Liam stated. “Well, not in this context, anyway.”

Niall paused his hair-pulling and turned to Liam, his eyes half-open. “Stop it, Liam. I’m just tryna live and you’re not letting me.”

Then, he turned his attention back to Harry’s hair.

“You guys are all staying over, right?” Zayn asked as Liam wrapped his arm around him, making them look like a cute couple. Louis was totally not jealous, no, nuh-uh. Not jealous at all. He smiled slightly at Harry leaning against the couch with his eyes closed as Niall messed up his hair.

“Nah, I’ve got to go home soon. Mum’s not too pleased when I’m out two nights in a row,” Liam replied, resting his head on Zayn’s.

Zayn frowned. “Aw, sucks. Maybe next time then. Lou? Harry?”

“I’ll crash,” Louis responded. “Can’t be bothered going home tonight.”

“Same,” Harry spoke up. “‘m tired.”

There was another thud as Niall passed on the couch on his side, his hands slipping out of Harry’s hair as he fell. The blond boy was absolutely wasted and there was no point in asking him if he was going to stay or not. He had no choice.

Louis chuckled as Harry heaved a sigh of relief, running his hands through his hair and untangling the knots that Niall had created. He watched as his curly friend shuffled over to the other couch and laid down, giving in to his fatigue. He grabbed the remote from the couch and turned off the TV.

“Just gonna lay here and try to fall asleep. Night, lads,” Harry’s deep voice drawled as his eyes dropped shut. Louis couldn’t help but fond over his best mate’s adorable face as he slept.

“Goodnight,” Louis whispered, looking over to see Liam unwrapping his arms around Zayn and standing up.

“Think I’m going to leave now,” Liam announced, stretching his hands above his head as he walked towards the door. “See ya guys tomorrow.”

It was only 11:30 pm and one lad was passed out and wasted, one lad was sleeping (or trying to sleep, whichever way you look at it), one lad had left, and the other two lads were still wide awake. Louis shifted his gaze until it focused on Harry as the boy’s chest moved up and down repetitively, along with his breathing. The blue-eyed boy could practically feel Zayn’s eyes burning holes in the back of his skull.

“What, Zayn,” Louis said, his head rolling over lazily to give the other lad a pointed look. Zayn smirked and Louis rolled his eyes. “Stop giving me that look.”

Zayn wiggled his eyebrows playfully and readjusted his position so he was leaning against the armrest with his legs fully stretched out on the couch.

“Harry, Harry,” he whispered and when he received no reply, he turned to Louis and smiled. “You two are so cute together.”

Louis groaned, his head lolling backwards. “Oh, don’t start…”

“You guys couldn’t be more obvious,” the darker-haired boy mused. “I swear, if there was a crowd of strangers in here, they would all guess that you’re dating.”

“No, they wouldn’t,” Louis grumbled. “‘sides, what about you and Liam? We act exactly like you - cuddly and all that - and you two aren’t dating!”

The corners of Zayn’s mouth twitched upwards. “Actually, we are.”

Louis’ eyes widened and his mouth hung open, and a whole beehive could’ve probably entered it by now.

“You’re joking!” he gaped and Zayn looked triumphant. “Since when?”

“Since today, actually. We were planning on telling you lot but then Niall passed out and Harry fell asleep so we didn’t have a chance to,” he explained. “Anyway, stop changing the subject. We were talking about you and Harry.”

Louis huffed and crossed his arms. “What about us?”

Zayn’s dark eyes twinkled, pulling out his phone and opening the notes app. “I have some questions for you and these are the questions I asked myself before I realised I like Liam. Are you ready?”

“No.”

“Okay, great!” Zayn began and Louis slumped on the couch. “Out of all the lads, who do you spend the most time with?”

“Zayn, these are targeted,” the feathery-haired lad whined. “Fine… Harry.”

“Who do you go to first when you have a problem?”

“Depends.”

“On what?”

“On the problem,” Louis replied nonchalantly, continuing, “If I need help with maths, I go to Liam ‘cause he’s smart. If I need help with other homework, then I go to you ‘cause you’re good at other stuff. And if I’m hungry, I go to Niall’s stash of junk food under his bed…”

“And with every other problem?”

So many different names were whirring around inside Louis’ brain but only one was highlighted in bright yellow. Louis couldn’t help but feel like his own brain was attacking him mentally.

“Harry…” he mumbled, hanging his head.

“And if you only be friends with one of the lads for the rest of your life, who would you choose?” Zayn inquired.

Louis placed his head in his hands. “Oh, why would you make me choose, Zayn? … Harry.”

Rather than his usual sly smirk, Zayn shot Louis a supportive and small smile.

“If you were to ask your parents, sisters and friends, who they think you are closest to, what would they say?”

Louis knew that his mum, Jay, thought of Harry like he was her second son. The amount of time him and Louis spent together was exceptionally much, so it was rare that she didn’t see him around. Mark, Louis’ dad, loved talking about sports and exercise with Harry, since they were both inclined in that direction. Even Louis’ sisters saw Harry as a second older brother they never had!

“Parents would say Harry, sisters would say… also Harry… Except Lottie might say you ‘cause she fancies you,” Louis said, causing Zayn to give him a look. “And you guys would say Harry… but only ‘cause you’ve all somehow got it into your head that we’d be the perfect fairytale couple.”

“Uh-huh, that’s exactly what we think,” Zayn nodded. “How often do you think about Harry?”

“You’ll need to give me a time frame for that.”

Zayn tilted his head to the side in thought. “Let’s say, in a day.”

Louis looked up at the ceiling as he pondered over the question.

“Uh, maybe a few times… well obviously, if I’m talking to him, I’ll be thinking about him. But of course, if I’m in class or something, I don’t think about him. If someone else is talking about him or shows me a picture of him or I see him around at school, I’ll think about him..So, I guess, I don’t think about him all the time,” Louis rambled, his thoughts rushing around his head too fast, making him unable to form a coherent answer.

“That was by far the shittiest answer I’ve ever heard,” Zayn opined. “Took nothing away from it.”

“Oh, piss off!” Louis protested. “It’s your fault ‘cause you came up with the questions.”

Zayn shrugged. “Fair enough. Okay, next - do you prioritise Harry over other people? Like, would you do things for him that you wouldn’t do for other people? Do you go out of your way to do things for him?”

“Maybe,” Louis responded simply. “I’d put time aside for any of you, though.”

Zayn shot him a doubtful look. “No, you wouldn’t. I know in your head, you see Harry as the king and the rest of us are plain, old peasants.”

“‘scuse me, I’m actually the king,” Louis sassed.

“Stop changing the subject!” Zayn exclaimed.

“Whatever… well, I put time aside for Harry because I like spending time with him, but it doesn’t necessarily mean I prioritise him,” Louis explained.

“Yeah, sure,” Zayn monotoned, inducing a glare from Louis. “Last question, can you see a future with Harry?”

Louis sighed and scratched his head, his brain finally giving up on coming up with some sort of creative indirect response to deflect Zayn’s brain from comprehending the meaning behind his words.

“Fuck it, Zayn. You already know my answer,” he finally said, his body slumping.

He looked up at Zayn, who gazed at him sympathetically, with a small smile on his face.

“You like, Harry, don’t you,” he said softly, the first one to make Louis’ feelings come into fruition. Louis inhaled deeply and finally took off his mask of denial.

“I know… I do…” Louis acquiesced. “What the fuck do I do?”

Zayn exhaled loudly and leaned backward. “I know it’s cliché but I say go for it. Nothing will go wrong, I promise you that.”

“But what if he doesn’t like me back?” Louis quavered, furrowing his eyebrows.

Zayn shook his head and smiled. “I’ve no doubt he does. That’s why I said that nothing will go wrong.”

Louis paused for a moment.

“But how can you be so sure?”

Zayn rolled his eyes. “I have fucking eyes, okay? But clearly, you two don’t ‘cause you’ve been dancing around each other for god knows how many years! If Liam, Niall and I can all see it, then I’d seriously never trust myself again if he doesn’t like you.”

“O-Okay…” Louis said hesitantly. “But how the hell am I supposed to bring it up? Say ‘hey Harry, how’s your day, great, wanna fuck?’?”

Zayn chuckled and stood up, walking over to Louis to ruffle his hair.

“Well, you can say that if you want!” he laughed before turning serious again when he saw how distressed the blue-eyed boy was. “Hey, don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

Louis mentally facepalmed. “Zayn, that really doesn’t help. Really doesn’t help.”

Zayn merely smiled. “You’ll figure out how when the time is right.”

Louis failed to notice that Harry’s breathing was no longer as slow and steady as it was when he had been sleeping.

***

Ever since the heart to heart conversation that Louis had had with Zayn on Thursday night, Louis had been constantly picking up on things he never noticed before. Things like the way his eyes always strayed to Harry whenever one of the other lads was talking. The way he secretly admired certain things that Harry did like offering his mum to help with the dishes or how Harry treated his little sisters like they were his own sisters. Yeah, he could definitely see that in his future. Even the way his heart sometimes stopped when Harry looked at him or was standing close to him.

How the fuck did he never notice these things before?

Slowly but surely, Louis realised, he was falling for his best mate. Hard (no innuendo intended).

Sometimes, Zayn would shoot him knowing looks when he caught Louis daydreaming about Harry and Louis would glare back at him. Niall would often joke about Louis and Harry being a couple but there was nothing new about that - only now, Louis’ heart would swell whenever it happened. Liam wasn’t as loud, but he definitely hinted at having knowledge about what was going on.

Harry, on the other hand, continued acting like he normally did around Louis - joking around, being cuddly and all that. Louis didn’t know when it started hurting but really, really did.

It was one time, when Harry came over to the Tomlinson Household, that Louis really found himself fonding over his *cough* best mate *cough*.

“Harry!” Phoebe squealed, speeding across the room when she saw that Harry had entered the room. She smiled widely up at Harry, her blue eyes big as she latched onto his waist. Soon enough, the other twin, Daisy, spotted Harry and proceeded to attack him as well.

“Hi, girls,” he greeted, flashing his million-dollar smile down at them, making them giggle. “Aren’t you two looking pretty today. Don’t think I’ve seen those dresses before!”

“Grandma got it for us yesterday!” Daisy chirped, elated that Harry had noticed their new dresses.

“Well, they suit you very well!” Harry complimented. “Tell your grandma that she did a very good job choosing.”

“Okay! We will!”

With that, the twins removed themselves from Harry and skipped back to the room where they were previously playing with their dolls. Jay promptly emerged from the kitchen when she heard the commotion and her face immediately turned soft when she saw Harry.

“Hi, Harry,” she smiled. “Looking for Louis?”

“Hi, Jay. Yes, I am,” Harry replied politely. “Actually, I made you guys some cupcakes. Here.”

Harry handed a large-ish box he was holding over to Jay and she took it appreciatively. At that moment, Fizzy came bounding down the stairs and her eyes widened when she saw the box.

“Cupcakes?!” she exclaimed. “Can I have one?! What flavour are they?!”

Harry chuckled, clasping his hands behind his back and rocking back and forth on his feet.

“Just vanilla, but I put frosting this time,” he explained.

If it was even possible, Fizzy’s eyes widened more and the smile grew on her face. “Sweet! Mum, can I have one?”

“Of course!” Jay laughed. “We need to give Harry reviews, don’t we?”

“Yay, thanks!” Fizzy beamed, taking the box from her mother and hastily opening it.

Jay turned back to Harry. “He’s upstairs doing who knows what. I know he’s not doing his homework.”

“Thanks, Jay,” he nodded before he was off to hop upstairs.

As he was walking towards Louis’ bedroom, an excited Lottie came bursting out of her room, holding some sort of gadget in her recently-manicured hands.

“Oh, Harry!” she yelped, quickly swerving as to not run into him. “Look what Dad got me!”

She carefully displayed her new camera that, Harry assumed, she had bedazzled with a variety of different-coloured, stick-on gems and stones. She turned it around in her hand to show it to him from every angle.

“Aw, that’s a cool camera!” Harry acclaimed. “Show me some pictures you take with it later, okay?”

“Okay!” Lottie grinned before skipping away and down the stairs.

Harry exhaled and continued towards Louis’ room, knocking on it before receiving a somewhat excited grunt and the sound of something falling on the floor for an answer. The door swung open to reveal a Louis Tomlinson who looked like he had just finished working out.

“Sorry, I got shocked and then fell on the floor when I was trying to get out of my chair,” Louis explained, his face fading to red a bit. “Come in.”

Harry laughed and entered the room, shutting the door behind him before flopping onto Louis’ bed. Louis resumed his place in his chair and looked at the curly-haired boy.

“So, what brings you here?” Louis asked.

Harry lifted his head off the bed and rolled over so he was on his side and facing Louis.

“I was bored,” he responded. “And the Tomlinson’s house is a very appropriate place to be in order to cure boredom.”

“True that,” Louis nodded. “My sisters didn’t bombard you, did they?”

Harry laughed. “Not too much, no, but I did bring you guys some cupcakes.”

Louis raised his eyebrows. “Oh, thanks. They’d quite like that.”

“Yeah, Fizzy seemed pretty excited for them,” Harry nodded. “Anyways, what’s that you’re doing? I didn’t know you took art.”

Louis blushed and covered his piece of paper with another piece of paper.

“You’re right. I don’t,” he replied hastily. “Don’t look at it. It’s not good.”

Harry pressed, “Aw, Lou. Please, can I see?”

Louis leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, shaking his head.

“No, absolutely not.”

Harry pouted. “What a party pooper. What’s it for anyway?”

Louis rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to speak. “Well, you see, Zayn thought it would be a good idea to try and teach me to appreciate the art of art. So here I am, following a Bob Ross tutorial but with colour pencils instead ‘cause I don’t have any paint.”

“Ah, I see,” Harry nodded. “So, have you learnt to appreciate the art of art?”

“Eh, probably not as much as I should,” Louis shook his head. “But then again, I don’t even have the right supplies to fully appreciate the art of art so I suppose it’s not a very fair conclusion I’ve come to.”

Harry rolled on his back as Louis stared at him in silence, waiting for a reply before Harry asked in a small voice, “Can I see?”

“No, you cannot, Styles,” Louis groaned, taking the whole stack of papers on his desk and shoving it into his drawer before closing his laptop and lifting his legs up on his chair so he was sitting Indian style. “I’m sure you don’t want to damage your poor eyes with my terrible art skills. It’d probably do more damage than UV from the sun.”

“I doubt it,” Harry replied. “But whatever floats your boat. I’ll find it someday.”

“Ha, nah…” Louis said. “Don’t count on that.”

“Don’t worry, I will,” Harry smirked, growing silent before suddenly gasping and sitting up quickly. “By the way, did you know that Zayn and Liam are dating?”

Louis sniggered. “I did, actually. You’re a bit late, Haz.”

Harry’s mouth dropped open. “B-But, like, when…? How…? I pride myself in being able to see when people like each other but I really wasn’t expecting that!”

“Same,” Louis agreed thoughtfully. “But they say that the best things happen unexpectedly. I’m happy for them.”

Harry nodded. “Me too. Can you imagine cute little Zayn and Liam babies running around? Half of them would be spray-painting the walls and the other half would be playing Pokémon.”

“Oh, don’t make me think about that!” Louis complained, putting his hands over his face. “It’s far too adorable for me to handle.”

“Aw, that’s cute, Lou,” Harry teased, receiving an eraser being thrown at him in response. He caught it and threw it back at Louis, who dodged, causing it to land in the bin. “Which lad d’you think will be taken next?”

“Me,” Louis replied quickly. “I’ll be taken for granted.”

“Oh, haha. Very funny, Tommo,” Harry drawled sarcastically, rolling his eyes. “I personally think I’ll be taken, or rather dragged, along to a party by Niall soon.”

“Idiot,” Louis muttered, throwing another eraser at Harry. “He only invites you ‘cause you get all the girls and then Niall can go off and get wasted without being interrupted.”

“It’s my charm and my curls,” Harry gloated playfully, daring to look Louis straight in the eye. “Two things you don’t have.”

“Hey!” Louis exclaimed, throwing, essentially, his whole pencil case at Harry this time. Harry ducked and protected his face with his hands, chanting ‘no no no’ as he got attacked. “You’ll pay for that!”

“No, please!” Harry cried. “My job is minimum wage!”

“See, that’s what happens when you have all charm and curls but no smarts,” Louis mocked jokingly. “You get a job at bloody McDonald’s! I bet you spend more money driving to work than money you earn in a week!”

Harry held up a finger. “Actually, one of my coworkers, Melissa, got a 9 for her GCSE, so don’t you go on about McDonald’s workers having no smarts! Besides, I work at the counter so it’s my job to be charming.”

Louis stared into Harry’s eyes darkly. “Whatever. Just remember, Styles, your charm will never seduce me!”

Lies, lies, blatant lies. Louis hadn’t half a clue why he told such an abhorrent, appalling lie!

Harry raised an eyebrow and smirked, getting up on his feet and moving towards Louis slowly, his figure standing intimidatingly taller over Louis, even if it was only by a few inches. Louis’ eyes widened and he gulped as sly green eyes bore into blue. He took a step backwards and nearly fell back into his chair as Harry’s face became only centimetres away from his own. Louis’ breath hitched in his throat.

“What if I k-”

“Louis, can you ask Harry if he wants to stay for dinner?!” Lottie’s voice echoed around the house as she called from down the corridor.

Louis immediately snapped his head towards the sound as Harry quickly stepped back and coughed quietly. Louis turned back to Harry.

“Well, do you?” he asked as the atmosphere in the room suddenly turned a little too awkward for his liking.

“Um… I-I think my mum wants me home for dinner today,” Harry stammered, refusing to look into Louis’ eyes. And he added a ‘sorry’ for good measure.

“No, no, it’s fine,” Louis reassured him, sitting back down in his chair and suddenly finding his carpet extremely interesting.

“Okay, uh, I think I’ll just leave now,” Harry muttered and before Louis could say goodbye, Harry had already left his room.

Louis leaned back in his chair and placed his head in his hands, trying to process everything that had happened. How, what, why…? But he mainly had the only, most important, one question on his mind: 

What the fuck just happened?

***

“I swear,” Louis stressed, his hands in his hair as he tried to convince the boys, as well as himself of what had happened.

They were all crowded around a lunch table off to the side, ears listening intently to Louis as he recounted the story from the afternoon prior. Conveniently for them, Harry was meeting with a teacher for extra credit (or something of the sort) and wouldn’t be back for another five minutes or so. And so his absence had caused Louis to take the opportunity to finally confess his feelings for his best mate as well as seek advice from them.

“He said he was going to kiss you?” Liam questioned, his facial expression drawn up in doubt.

He scratched the back of his head sceptically while Louis shook his head frantically.

“No… well, not exactly… but he was like this close!” he explained, holding his index finger and thumb up closely together for a visual representation.

Niall placed his chin on his hand and hummed. “So, like the height of a burger or the height of a patty distance?”

Louis would have rolled his eyes at the Irish boy’s knack for somehow being able to smoothly integrate food into any conversation whatsoever but right now, he was way too preoccupied with thinking about Harry to do so.

“Burger distance,” Louis responded hastily. “But it felt so much closer. I could literally feel his breath!”

“But then you were interrupted?” Zayn questioned and when Louis nodded, Zayn shook his in dismay. “Happens at the best of times.”

Louis sighed loudly and leaned over the table to grab Zayn’s wrists desperately. He looked up at Zayn with his blue eyes wide and face anxious.

“What do I do?!” he cried, groaning as he let his head drop on the table in defeat.

Truth be told, for the first half of the day, Harry and Louis had barely talked. During first break, the lads had met up together but neither Harry nor Louis had uttered a word to each other. The fifteen minutes had mainly been comprised of Niall rambling away about some snacks that had finally been shipped to his house from Ireland, along with awkward, split-second glances between Harry and Louis. Zayn and Liam were off in their own little world as usual.

After first break, in biology, Zayn had slipped Louis a note under the table, asking if him and Harry were okay, and explained that he had noticed that they were a little more uncomfortable around each other than usual. Louis, in turn, had messily scrawled back that he didn’t really know what was going on and that he would explain at lunch if he got him alone.

Now, Zayn looked down at Louis’ head sympathetically and rubbed his fingers.

“Remember I told you to go for it?” he questioned and Louis nodded slowly, mumbling a response that was muffled by the table. “Well, you were uncertain of if Harry liked you or not. He was about to kiss you so here’s your proof!”

“But what if it was just a platonic joke?!” Louis asked in exasperation.

Zayn scoffed and Liam almost burst into laughter, while Niall choked on his chips.

“A platonic joke kiss?” Zayn asked incredulously. “Tell me you’re bullshitting me right now. Tell me!”

Louis looked up with his eyes half-closed and shook his head. “But what if it is?”

“You’re absolutely mental if you think so!” Zayn exclaimed. “Plus, it’s not just the nearly-kiss that gives it away. There are countless other, more obvious things than that.”

“Like what?” Louis grumbled.

“Okay, we’re going to be here for a while,” Liam piped up, placing his hands on the table like he was about to start a business meeting. “Firstly, he looks at you with an expression that I’ve never seen him do with anyone else. It’s as if his eyes morph into hearts when he’s looking, I mean, admiring you.”

Louis rolled his eyes in disbelief. He was not ready to accept anything… not yet, anyway.

“He literally talks about you all the time,” Zayn added. “It’s like fucking impossible to have a conversation with him where he doesn’t mention you, man. Maybe two days ago, I was talking to him about lampshades and then he started talking about how you had a weirdly-shaped lampshade in your old house when you were seven.”

Louis gave Zayn a pointed look. “The only thing I want to know is why the hell you were talking about lampshades.”

Zayn shook his head and smirked.

“Guys, I have one!” Niall informed them excitedly. “Harry’s lock screen is a picture of you and him from when you two went to that music festival last year. He doesn’t even have a picture of us five together; it’s just… you…”

Louis shrugged. “But that’s perfectly normal ‘cause he’s my best mate.”

Zayn suddenly started coughing and spluttered out something that sounded remarkably like ‘soulmate’ to Louis’ ears. He rolled his eyes.

“And let’s not forget about that one time you accidentally got on the wrong bus and it took you all the way to Harrogate. And then it started raining so you had to wait there and who did you call instead of your parents? Harry. Yeah, that’s right. And he drove all the way there to pick you up,” Liam recalled, his eyes gleaming in triumph at Louis.

The blue-eyed boy blushed and covered his face in his hands.

“He was just being a good friend,” he groaned. “Guys, these aren’t even remotely good reasons.”

Zayn rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, keep on denying-“

At that moment, Harry approached the table. sliding in next to Niall and getting his lunch out to eat. He was just about to take a bite before he paused when he saw everyone’s eyes on him.

“Um… hi?” he said, more like a confused question than anything. “So, who’s denying what?”

Louis’ eyes instantly widened in panic and he frantically looked around the table for help.

Um, uh…” Zayn stammered, his eyes flying around to look for an excuse. “Well, um, N-Niall was just denying that he shit his pants in English class ‘cause he ate too much at first break and forgot to, y’know, defecate beforehand.”

With a small sigh of relief, Louis stifled a laugh as Niall’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in horror. He looked just about ready to shred Zayn to strips while Zayn looked back at him, shrugging subtly, with a sheepishly feeble expression.

“You did what?!” Harry demanded, subconsciously shifting away from Niall as his face contorted to one of alarm.

“No, no, no, Harry!” Niall exclaimed helplessly, alternating between glaring daggers at Zayn and looking up pleadingly at Harry. “You don’t understand! I didn’t do it, I-I promise!”

Zayn had no other choice but to play along.

“Niall, practically the whole class could smell it… It was kind of obvious,” Zayn continued in a more sombre tone as if he was sympathising with his friend. “Look, I’m sorry, lad. I know you don’t want to hear it but I’m just being honest here.”

The irony.

Before Niall could interject, Liam cut in, “Don’t worry ‘bout it, Nialler. It happens and that’s merely life. Other people just need to accept that some things are just… out of your control, I suppose.”

Poor Niall looked absolutely miserable and he slumped his shoulders in defeat. Louis hoped the air would send a message of gratefulness to Niall for being his scapegoat and essentially saving his whipped ass.

Still a stranger to the conversation, Harry looked around in bewilderment before proceeding to take a bit of his lunch. Niall’s head was still faced downward and Zayn was gazing sympathetically at him. Liam and Louis, on the other hand, locked eyes and by the new mischievous glint that had appeared in Liam’s eyes, Louis knew that he had a new plan up his sleeve. What now?

Liam cleared his throat and lifted up his wrist to look at his watch. “Um, Zayn, we have to, uh, meet with Ms Glorski now, remember?”

Oh, so they were doing this thing now? Getting everyone away so Harry and Louis were alone? Louis couldn’t decide whether to be grateful or annoyed. On one hand, he knew he had to talk to Harry to clear things up and resolve any issue that may have risen from yesterday. On the other hand, he really wasn’t in the mood for an awkward conversation… especially one with his best mate that he almost kissed.

Zayn looked to Liam and his mouth formed the shape of an ‘O’.

“Oh my god, we’re late, aren’t we?” Zayn asked in a panicked voice. 

Louis frowned. He couldn’t tell whether he was acting or actually panicking anymore.

“Don’t worry,” Liam reassured him, getting up from the table. “We won’t get in trouble. Bye, guys!”

They waved at us over their shoulders as they shuffled away and out of the room to ‘meet with Ms Glorski’. Louis glanced back at the table to see Harry still eating in silence and Niall still staring down at the table. Louis prayed to God that Niall wouldn’t leave as well in fear of him and Harry being engulfed in an atmosphere of awkwardness.

Niall slowly raised his head and Louis sharply inhaled.

“Um, guys…” he began, his eyes wide and scared. Louis probably had never seen Niall look so vulnerable in his life! “My butt’s, uh, starting to get a bit itchy… so I’m just gonna head to the t-toilet to, y’know, clean up a bit…”

Louis mentally facepalmed and after a short pause, Niall quickly leapt out of his seat and practically fled the room, leaving Harry and Louis alone at the table. The room suddenly fell extremely silent and Louis could just about hear the ants tiptoeing on the ground outside.

Awkward was an understatement. Yes, a better way to describe how Louis felt would be to say that even silently breathing could shatter the windows into shards. Louis didn’t want to even look up at Harry in fear that Harry would be already looking at him and it would make things even more uncomfortable. Yep, he was definitely stressing out full time… even more than he did before his GCSE.

Louis’ head shot up at the sound of Harry suddenly coughing but Harry’s eyes were still fixed on his lunch. He gulped, his heart racing noisily in his chest as he anticipated what was going to happen next.

“Um,” Harry began quietly, still not meeting Louis’ eyes. “I think we should, uh, talk about… y’know, yesterday.”

Internally, Louis thanked every single god that existed that Harry had started the conversation so he didn’t have to. And also internally, he had just burst out into tears because he really, really, didn’t want to put himself through the torture of having to talk about it.

Louis shifted uncomfortably and placed his hands under his legs to stop himself from fidgeting. He shook his head to move his fringe away from blocking his eyes.

“Okay, yeah,” Louis breathed uneasily. He was sure his voice was almost at a whisper and wondered if Harry could even hear him. “What about it?”

Harry finally looked up and green eyes met blue again but this time, both colours were of darker shades. It wasn’t the same.

“Well, I just want you to know that I wasn’t, like, making a move on you yesterday,” Harry explained slowly and Louis’ mind fogged. “You’re my best mate and y’know, I wouldn’t do that to you… not to you.”

Ouch.

Louis hoped it didn’t show, but his entire face and spirit fell. He felt as if a part of his heart had just plummeted and was now sinking in an abyss of misery and rejection. Maybe it was heartbreak, maybe his soul had been crushed, but Louis knew that if he wouldn’t be feeling this devastated and shattered if it was just a temporary, schoolboy crush. It couldn’t be.

Harry only saw him as his best mate and nothing more. He was right. It was a platonic joke kiss. The other lads had been completely wrong and had given him false hope. Now he knew that everything that they had just described as ‘Harry liking him back’ was just Harry being a great best mate. Now, Louis knew that he would have to come to terms with never, ever, not even potentially having Harry… like that… 

Strictly platonic. Always platonic. Never anything but platonic.

“Lou, Louis? Are you alright there?”

Louis' head snapped up at the sound of Harry’s voice, his usually bright green eyes now wide with concern and curiosity. He wanted to say that he wasn’t okay and that he was, in fact, dying on the inside at this very moment, but no. He wouldn’t. Especially not now.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m alright,” Louis lied through his teeth and relief washed through Harry’s face. “Just got a lot on my mind lately and I guess I zoned out… sorry.”

Louis looked down at the blank table in front of him and his ears perked up as he heard Harry slide along the bench until he was at the corner. Two fingers under his chin pushed his head up so he was looking at Harry once again. In any other situation, Louis would’ve taken this opportunity to admire the perfection of Harry’s features, but no, not this time. He didn’t need to fall anymore.

“You know you can always talk to me, yeah?” Harry reminded him with a small smile that wasn’t even close to reaching his eyes. 

Louis nodded slowly and breathed in shakily, hoping his thinning composure would stay so he wouldn’t suddenly burst into tears in front of Harry and give himself away. That would just make him worry even more.

“Yeah, I know,” he murmured, nodding ever so slightly before sighing and looking straight into Harry’s eyes. “Just… don’t worry about it. S’not that important.”

Harry shook his head. “Hey, anything that’s troubling you is important to me, okay? I like to be able to be your personal cheerleader and support you through everything.”

Not with this one, he couldn’t.

Louis forced a small smile that he hoped conveyed enough gratefulness through it because he was extremely grateful, just… heartbroken at the same time… Life really was just a big, fat punch to the face, huh.

“Alright, bring it in, then,” Harry suddenly said, opening up his arms and leaning forwards.

Louis buried his head in the crook of Harry’s neck and wrapped his arms around him, resting in his presence, His eyes fluttered shut as he deeply inhaled the scent of Harry’s cologne, the smell filling and delighting his nose. It was a nice feeling to be held and protected in Harry’s arms but at the same time, Louis knew that all good things would eventually come to an end. He could already feel twinges of jealousy creeping into his veins for the lucky person who would soon replace him.

If only it was himself that he was jealous of.

No.

Never.

Louis scoffed at the thought.

***

It was a Sunday morning when Louis had impulsively decided to take a visit to the Horan Household, in search of some wise, Irish advice from a Niall, who was probably still asleep mentally. It wasn’t that Niall was bad at giving advice, it was that Niall had a tendency to come up with crazy, outlandish ideas that would take a person with the courage and persistence of Gandhi to be able to pull off.

Since Harry and Louis had discussed the almost-kiss on Tuesday, nothing much had really changed. While Louis had thought that by talking about it, the air would clear and Harry and Louis would go back to being normal, fun and cuddly best mates. But the air continued to be filled with fog and humidity, creating an unspoken barrier between the two lads. In all honesty, Louis was not enjoying it one bit.

Once, Zayn had even strode up to Louis’ locker during first break and dragged him away to a corner of the school that no one ever visited. He had stared at Louis with a fiery determination in his eyes to fix whatever was going on with him and Harry, and Louis had looked back helplessly. What was he to do anyway?!

“What is up with you and Harry, mate?” Zayn had demanded when they had reached the corner and were out of earshot.

Louis had looked at the ground, miserably, with a glum expression and shrugged before looking back up.

“I don’t know, Zayn. I really don’t,” he had replied sadly. “I thought we fixed it on Wednesday but clearly, that didn’t work…”

Zayn had shaken his head frantically in distress. “You two have been so awkward for the past few days… you barely speak and hell, you don’t even look at each other!”

Louis had looked into Zayn’s eyes sincerely. “I hate it too and you know that. It’s just… I don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to do about it!”

Zayn had placed a hand on Louis’ shoulder for comfort. “Look, man. I know for a fact that you misinterpreted Harry’s words on Wednesday because in my eyes, I can clearly see that he likes you back. Think about it, okay? Niall, Liam and I, we can’t stand how tense it is between you two at lunch.”

Louis had merely nodded in defeat and slumped his shoulders as he walked himself back to his locker.

Now, Louis was sitting on Niall’s bed, listening to the little Irish bloke rattling off about some crazy, mastermind idea he had come up with to get Harry and Louis back together… back together as in more than friends.

“So here’s the plan,” Niall said, his eyes narrow and mouth slightly upturned in a mischievous grin. “Tomorrow, we’re all going to bunk off and Liam is going to convince Harry to go to the park with him to ‘feed the ducks’ while Zayn takes you to the park as well. Then, all four of you will bump into each other and I’ll hire some chiselers and set them off on Liam and Zayn so they have an excuse to run away. Then, it’ll just be you and Harry and you can go skinny dipping in the lake with the ducks. After that, I’ll hire a private jet to fetch you from the park with me as the air hostess. I’ll serve you drinks and you’ll get absolutely fluthered and join the mile high club.”

At the end of his monologue, Niall looked extremely pleased with himself, with his chest puffed out and a smug smile on his face as if he had just come up with the most genius plan that one could possibly devise. Louis rolled his eyes and gave Niall a pointed look.

“Niall, while I appreciate the thought you put into that,” he paused before continuing, “it’s not going to happen.”

Niall’s face didn’t falter for a second but he just smiled wider. “That’s okay. That was only one of my plans. In fact, it wasn’t even my top plan!”

“Uh-huh,” Louis replied absentmindedly, suddenly finding the leprechaun figurine on Niall’s bedside table really interesting.

“I went exploring yesterday,” Niall began, “at school, and I discovered that they have a rooftop garden like fucking High School Musical. You guys could meet up there and I’ll come up and sing ‘Can I Have This Dance’ while you two slow-dance.”

While that was definitely the more practical plan of the two that Niall had proposed, it was still bizarre to Louis. Harry and he were no Gabriella and Troy.

He imagined it in his brain - him and Harry slow-dancing in the rain while Niall stood away from them like a statue, just strumming his guitar while singing in his Irish accent and gawking at them. Louis shivered at the uncomfortable thought and proceeded to want to delete it from his brain’s thought history forever.

“Yeah, no thanks,” he shook his head and pursed his lips together.

Niall tried again. “Well, we have the formal in June so you could prepare an awesome speech about how much you would like Harry to be your date. And you could slip in little subtleties about how you’re in love with him and blah blah. Then, I’ll pay the school to vacate the whole room so you two can slow-dance alone in the middle of it and at the end of the night, you can make out and get a hotel room and fuck.”

Louis facepalmed. “Niall… that doesn’t help!”

“What do you mean it doesn’t help?!” Niall insisted. “These are very practical suggestions!”

“No, they’re not!” Louis exclaimed. “I need a simple plan. Not some elaborate plan about how we’re going you’re going to hire a private jet and we end up fucking in a hotel room after the formal!”

Niall rolled his eyes. “Well, if you want something simple, then just fucking tell him, mate! You two have been dancing around each other for I don’t know how long… donkey’s years! It’s a real frustration!”

“But he doesn’t like me anyway,” Louis groaned, rubbing at his eyes and leaning back on Niall’s bed.

Niall made a grunting noise as he sat down in his desk chair. “You’re so wrong.”

Louis paused and furrowed his eyebrows. “What?”

“You’re so wrong if you think that Harry doesn’t like, in fact, love you,” Niall declared, shaking his head. “Zayn, Liam and I, we’ve told you countless times that he’s head over heels for you and yet you still choose not to believe it.”

“He said it himself, he doesn’t want to make a move on me because I’m his best mate… just his best mate and nothing more!” Louis argued fiercely.

Niall sighed and gripped his hair in vexation. “Are you fucking blind, mate?! He doesn’t want to make a move on you ‘cause he doesn’t think you like him back and he doesn’t want to ruin your friendship!”

Louis frowned for a second before Niall’s words registered in his brain and his eyes widened. His mouth dropped open in shock as realisation flooded throughout his body. What?!

“Oh… oh,” he said, his brain going into overload. “Why didn’t I think of that before?”

Louis heard Niall facepalm. “Because you’re fucking blind. I’m telling you, you need to wear those glasses of yours more often. Besides, Harry loves it when you do.”

Louis covered his face with his hands and closed his eyes. “Shut up, Niall. Now tell me what the hell I’m supposed to do with that information.”

Niall stood up again and cleared his throat as if he was about to present a class project or announce something important.

“You wait until it’s raining and then go up to Harry and tell him that you like him,” he began. “Then you kiss him and ride off into the sunset for your very own happily ever after. I, Niall Horan, volunteer as your officiant.”

Louis shook his head. “No, Niall. Just, no.”

Niall shrugged and smirked, grabbing Louis’ arm and yanking him up from his bed before forcing him towards the door.

“Come on, now. I’m kicking you out so you can go and talk to your man,” he explained, receiving a grunt in response from Louis. “The lads are hanging out on late Saturday so I expect you two to be snogging and cuddl-”

“Goodbye, Niall,” Louis cut in, escaping the Horan Household and inhaling deeply when he felt a small breeze on his face.

This was going to be a long week.

***

Louis did not go to talk to Harry after he left and Niall was extremely disappointed in him, as he expected. But Niall was merciful enough to let Louis off the hook this time and this time only.

“You’re joking, mate!” Niall had exclaimed when Louis eventually admitted that he hadn’t gone to see Harry. “Donkey’s years, donkey’s years…”

Louis knew that if he wanted to resolve things, his best bet would be to actually sit Harry down and have an honest to god talk with him. But the truth was that he was fucking scared! Why couldn’t Harry make the first move and talk to him! 

Of course, he had no clue what was going on in Harry’s brain, hell, he still wasn’t even completely sure that Harry liked him back, for that matter. He hated to imagine how awkward it would be if Louis somehow managed to confess his feelings for his best mate and Harry didn’t feel the same way. He could already feel the second-hand embarrassment in his bones.

Zayn and Liam were still persistent in encouraging Louis to talk to Harry, as usual, but encouragement wasn’t it for him. He needed advice… good advice that told him the exact steps in order to approach Harry, talk to him and maneuver his way into a happily ever after. ‘You’ll be fine’s didn’t count as good advice.

It was now Saturday dusk and Louis was ambling through his neighbourhood towards Niall’s house, lolling his head back as he contemplated his entire existence. The wind brushing past his face and through his hair, he thought back to all his childhood memories with his friends and reminisced his favourite moments with Harry. Harry. Why did his thoughts somehow always have to find their way to Harry? Every memory, every story, they always seemed to relate to that green-eyed, curly lad… whom Louis was in love with.

Yep, Louis had finally broken through the exit of his denial stage and admitted to himself that he was, quite frankly, extremely head over heels in love for his best mate. It was the worst feeling in the world and the best feeling in the world, but Louis had finally come to terms with the fact that he had a 50% chance of either having Harry fully, having Harry partially and not having Harry at all. Louis was also fully aware that that added up to 150% but he was bad at maths anyway so that didn’t really matter.

The ultimate debate he was having with himself was whether he should come clean to Harry and declare all his feelings because that could either end really well or extremely badly. He constantly racked his brain for an answer but it was just so frustrating that he couldn’t see inside Harry’s brain… So. Fucking. Frustrating.

Louis slapped his face to get shoo away all the thoughts, wincing immediately and wondering why he chose to slap himself in the first place. He furrowed his eyebrows and sighed. Ugh, life was just too confusing and hard for him. 

He arrived at the Horan Household, once again, and raised his hand to knock on the door. But before he could do so, the door swung open, revealing an extremely excited Niall with a drink in his hand and a party hat sitting off-centre on his head. 

“Louis!” Niall grinned, grabbing a glittery red party hat from a nearby stash that had suddenly appeared. “Here, this is for the party.”

Louis slowly grabbed the hat and frowned in confusion. “Party? I thought we were just hanging out…?”

Niall nodded eagerly and ushered Louis in, closing the door behind them. “We’re celebrating Liam and Zayn’s one week and two days!”

Louis raised his eyebrows at the weird celebration timing but nodded anyway, albeit hesitantly. “Um, okay, then. Where’s everyone?”

“Waiting for you on the deck, duh,” Niall rolled his eyes like it was the most obvious thing ever. He pushed Louis towards the dining room, which opened up to the deck area. “You’re late, anyway.”

“Wait, really?” Louis asked in surprise. He glanced at the clock on the wall, which was shaped like a clover and had a mini leprechaun sitting on top of it. “But it’s 6:30 and that’s when you asked me to come.”

Niall shrugged. “Yeah, well, everyone else is here so in comparison to them, you’re late.”

“O-Oh, right,” Louis nodded slowly. “Okay, then.”

As they reached the deck, Louis saw that all three lads were gathered around a table, sipping their drinks while talking with their party hats on. They seemed to be also watching Niall’s beagle running prancing around the backyard and chasing a butterfly. Harry, well, Harry was looking especially good tonight so Louis didn’t dare to look at him in case he started blushing furiously or something.

“Put your party hat on!” Niall hissed before raising his voice and bellowing, “Louis’ in the house! I mean, Louis’ outside the house ‘cause we’re on the deck!”

“Oi oi!” Zayn shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth and turning to grin at Louis.

“Hey, lads,” Louis greeted back, a wide smile stretching on his face. “Started without me?”

Zayn gulped down his drink and set it on the table. “Niall’s fault. He was too hungry to wait. Come sit.”

The Bradford boy patted a seat next to him, which luckily didn’t happen to be beside Harry and Louis went around the table to sit down. He moved to get himself a drink, though there was barely any left (he presumed it had mostly been consumed by Niall) and grabbed an unfamiliar bottle.

“What is this?” he asked, scrunching up his nose as he studied the label.

“I don’t even know, man,” Zayn replied, his words slurring a little. “The name’s in Arabic or something but it tastes like beer.”

Louis didn’t even know how Niall managed to get his hands on so many alcoholic drinks when he was still seventeen but he opened the bottle anyway and drank some.

“It’s beer,” Niall informed him and Louis didn’t even want to question why he chose a variety in Arabic.

Louis leaned his head back as he watched Niall’s beagle roll around on the grass and made a hasty decision that tonight was not the night to get drunk. He was only going to have one drink and that was it. He dared to take a look at Harry and accidentally made eye contact with those green eyes that he could probably look into forever. Feeling the heat rise up to his cheeks, he quickly averted his eyes to a random tree that was shedding leaves rather fast.

Had Harry been looking at him?

Louis’ brain fogged up as he tried to process the fact that Harry had been looking at him. Yeah, sure, Harry had looked at him numerous times in the past decade or so, but the fact that he was looking at him now? This was all such a mess. He needed to talk to Harry… later.

“Lads, wanna play a game?” Niall asked, holding up another six-pack of those Arabic beer drinks. No, no, no, Louis could not get drunk tonight!

“Sure,” Liam replied, unwrapping his arm from around Zayn and repositioning his chair so he was facing Niall more.

“I say a drinking game but I have some ginger beer for anyone who’s boring and doesn’t want to join me in wasted tonight,” Niall asked, specifically eyeing Louis as if he could read his mind. Louis wished he could read Harry’s mind like that.

“I’ll take it,” Louis said. Niall nodded and pulled out a box of ginger beer bottles from under the table. Louis’ only question was why the hell Niall had so many drinks everywhere? The Irish lad seemed to have stashes of anything and everything anywhere and everywhere! He grabbed a bottle from Niall.

“Same,” Harry suddenly spoke up and Louis’ head immediately snapped to him. Harry not getting drunk tonight? Hm, interesting.

“So what’s the game?” Zayn asked.

Niall shrugged and Louis almost laughed at how spontaneous Niall was.

“I dunno,” the blond replied. “Drink every time someone else drinks.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Louis saw Zayn roll his eyes. “Mate, at least try.”

Niall gave him a pointed look and exclaimed, “Why don’t you think of one, then?”

“So unprepared,” Liam tsked, shaking his head in playful disapproval. Niall glared at him.

“Whatever,” he said before looking in Harry's direction. “You choose.”

A little put off by the request (even though it was a simple one) Harry looked a bit surprised before furrowing his eyebrows. “Uh, I don’t know… never have I ever?”

Niall nodded in approval. “Sweet! The first legitimate suggestion we’ve had all evening! Liam, go.”

Zayn rolled his eyes again at Niall’s antics and Liam’s face went into thinking mode.

“Are we going easy or hardcore?” the latter questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“Hardcore, duh.”

“Right. In that case, never have I ever made out with someone at school.” Zayn shot Liam a confused look and took a drink before Liam’s eyes widened dramatically and he gasped. “Oh shit, I’ve done that!”

Louis burst out laughing at how messy this night was with all the drinks, spontaneity and fails. It wasn’t even a minute into the game and it was going to shit. He guessed that the rest of the night would just be full of them goofing off and not taking life seriously.

“What the hell, Liam?” Harry asked as he chortled into his drink. Louis took a sip as well. “Alright, never have I ever sent a dirty message to the wrong person.”

Louis glanced around the table as Niall burst into a fit of giggles and downed his entire drink while Louis, himself, sipped a more modest amount of ginger beer.

“Louis sent one to me and then I thought it was my girlfriend so I sent one back!” Niall managed, gasping for air when he finished. He shook as he leaned back in his chair and laughed his fucking face off.

“Hey!” Louis exclaimed. “It was a dare but I still somehow managed to send it to the wrong person! Plus, Niall, you didn’t even have a girlfriend at that time!”

Niall snorted. “I know!”

Everyone else started laughing at Niall’s twisted mind and Louis placed his ginger beer on the table, deciding that while Niall calmed down, it might be a good time to take a break from the group and relieve himself.

He stood up and scratched the back of his neck. “Lads, I’m heading up to the bathroom. Be right back.”

They all nodded and with that, he made his way inside, curiously glancing around at everything Niall had in his house. It seemed like every single object here had a touch of Irish-ness to them, whether they were painted the colour scheme of the Irish flag, or had subtle indentations of clovers in them. It was all very interesting to look at if he was being honest.

He found his way to the stairs, knowing that the downstairs bathroom was only for blood or marriage-related guests (it was kind of a weird rule in Louis’ mind) and made his way up them. He walked through the upstairs corridor, which was much like his own, and arrived at the bathroom in peace and quiet. He closed the door and locked it behind him before closing the toilet lid and sitting on top of it. He didn’t actually need to pee or anything, he just needed some space and silence to think.

Right now, and for the past week or so, Harry had been the only thing on his mind and he was beginning to wonder if Harry would ever be kind enough to announce his departure. He hated Harry for constantly consuming his thoughts and making him distracted. He hated Harry for being so damn attractive, kind and funny. He hated Harry for being everything… but at the same time, he loved Harry for that very same thing.

He just wished the whole situation was over and he could have his happily ever after already. Fairy tales made it sound so easy since both parties so obviously liked each other romantically but in his situation, he didn’t know. Though they wouldn’t be able to hear it, Louis quickly apologised to Daisy and Phoebe as he made the decision that fairy tales were complete, utter paragraphs of bullshit.

So long to Cinderella and the prince that fell in love with her after half a night of dancing - Harry and Louis had been friends for over a decade! Adios to Aurora and the prince that kissed her after literally knowing each other for a split second - Harry and Louis had at least had a full conversation before! Goodbye to Belle and the Beast, who had the most fantastic, cursed love story of all time - Harry’s long hair didn’t make him enough of a beast (Louis chuckled at that thought)! Fairy tales were so misleading, it wasn’t even funny.

Louis pursed his lips, sighing, and stood up from the toilet seat, checking his appearance in the mirror and fixing his hair slightly. Then, he inhaled deeply and unlocked the door, opening it to let himself out.

“Ah!” Louis let out a sound of surprise when he bumped into something hard as he walked out of the bathroom. He blinked and looked up, his eyes widening when his vision focused. Blue eyes met green and he laughed awkwardly. “Um, Harry… what are you doing here?”

Louis stepped back as the taller boy blocked his path. He noticed how Harry’s hands were still fidgety, even though they were shoved deep in his pockets. His green orbs were a mixture of shock, contemplation and something else that Louis couldn’t read. His expression was filled with some emotion that Louis had never seen before. He couldn’t figure it out… 

With a quiet ‘fuck it’, Harry shook his head and removed his hands from his pockets, advancing forward and grabbing the back of Louis’ neck before smashing their lips together. Louis’ eyes widened to saucepans and he gasped at the sudden action, his brain failing to register what the fuck was happening. What, what, what? What the fuck was happening?!

Slowly, a feeling of warmth and love swept over Louis and he melted into the touch of Harry’s lips, which tasted like ginger beer, but was nonetheless sweet. His eyes fluttered shut in pleasure and he wrapped his arms around Harry’s neck as the curly boy slithered his arms around Louis’ waist. Their lips moved together in sync and before he knew it, Harry’s tongue was sliding along Louis’ bottom lip and requesting for entrance.

What was this? A dream?!

Never in a million, billion, trillion years did Louis imagine ever making out with Harry fucking styles. Well, he did imagine it, but he definitely never imagined it actually happening! His heart soared in his chest as the fact that Harry was the one who initiated the kiss sunk in. If this was a dream, he would never want to wake up from it… the feeling was that good and he wanted to save it for as long as he was allowed. His brain was going into overload.

It felt like their lips had been attached forever when they detached but at the same time, it was far too short. Louis immediately pined for Harry’s lips again.

He opened his eyes and saw that Harry’s eyes were heavily diluted and gazing back down on him with the expression of… what was that, lust? Louis wanted to kick himself for thinking that way but that was exactly what he saw.

Like one of those greedy children who always takes more than what they’re given, Louis attached his lips to Harry again. He fucking loved the feeling so much and now that he knew that Harry wanted to kiss him too, he couldn’t wait to continue this forever.

They pulled away for breath.

“Glad to know the feeling’s mutual,” Harry said in his slow, deep voice, a small smile playing on his lips.

While Louis’ chest was heaving as he regained his breath, his heart raced even faster and he wondered if Harry could feel it beating out of his chest. His facial expression struggled to keep up with his emotions and he didn’t know whether to cry or laugh or just smile and nod. Why did no one write a handbook about how he was supposed to feel in this situation?

He grinned and slapped the back of Harry’s head. “You idiot! I thought you didn’t like me back!”

Harry’s mouth dropped open in horror. “What do you mean, I didn’t like you back?! I’ve liked you since, like, fifty years ago!”

Louis looked at Harry incredulously. “But on Wednesday, you said you didn’t want to make a move on me!”

Harry shook his head and laughed. “‘cause I thought you didn’t like me!”

Louis felt his eyes begin to get a little misty as he chuckled and tightened his arms around Harry’s neck, laying his head on Harry’s shoulder. He missed Harry’s hugs. They were so warm and big and made him feel extremely safe. If he was getting attacked by an evil polar bear in Antarctica, one hug from Harry would be more than enough to immediately calm his nerves and warm him up.

“We’re fucking thick-headed idiots, aren’t we?” Louis chuckled, his breath wavering as he exhaled and Harry rubbed his back.

“We really are. But,” Harry paused before continuing, “I’m so glad it ended up this way. I don’t know what I would have done with myself if you rejected me.”

“I would never,” Louis reassured him, mumbling into Harry’s shirt. “Never reject you, Hazza.”

They pulled apart and Harry’s ran his hand down Louis’ arm before taking his hand.

“You know, I heard your conversation with Zayn when he was asking you questions that night when Niall got drunk off popcorn,” Harry confessed, smiling sheepishly.

Louis frowned and his eyes widened dramatically. “You did?! Then what did you have to be scared of if you already knew?”

“I don’t know!” Harry exclaimed and Louis could tell he was kicking himself so he squeezed his hand to comfort him. “I was half asleep at the time and I was worried that I dreamt it!”

Louis’ face softened and he smiled fondly, muttering, “Idiot… I can’t believe it… I can’t believe we’re doing this here, in Niall’s fucking bathroom.”

“He’ll be pleased to know he, or his house, had some part in this,” Harry said, gesturing between himself and Louis. “Are we going to tell them?”

Louis’ lips stretched into a smile before he stood on his tiptoes to peck Harry on the lips. He intertwined his fingers with Harry.

“Shall we?


End file.
